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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Inverness => Topic started by: jacquih66 on Wednesday 21 April 10 03:05 BST (UK)

Title: Help with Gaelic, please
Post by: jacquih66 on Wednesday 21 April 10 03:05 BST (UK)

I have a letter written in 1841 by a native of Skye updating his brother in Australia with news from home.  He writes in English but with a few Gaelic names thrown in.  He writes about "Aennes og  (or possibly ag) Coilore" who I think was a man named Angus Matheson who lived at Coilore but I'm not sure what the og or ag means.  And could someone help me with an English version of the name "Niegillebraide", please.

Also in a parish register I found the burial of Marion McDonald Ban and wondered what the word "ban" would mean in that context.

Any help gratefully recieved.

Title: Re: Help with Gaelic, please
Post by: elinga on Wednesday 21 April 10 19:26 BST (UK)

Hi
sorry I cat help you with the name , but I believe og means "young".
I have had help before  regarding gaelic from this website , maybe you could ask there ;
http://www.scotland.com/forums/language/
good luck!
regards
Elinga

Title: Re: Help with Gaelic, please
Post by: jacquih66 on Wednesday 21 April 10 22:22 BST (UK)

Thanks for the tip, Elinga.

Jacqui

Title: Re: Help with Gaelic, please
Post by: angusm on Wednesday 21 April 10 23:51 BST (UK)

Hi: as I think you suspected, Aennes is a phonetic attempt at spelling Angus, normally Aonghas in Gaelic and, depending where you are, pronounced closer to Unnush than the English. When son of Angus, the name becomes Aoghais pronounced approximately Unooish. As Elinga says, Og means young; the English equivalent in my own family where my father and I shared the name Angus was that I was wee Angus, while he was big Angus i.e. Aonghas mor. Ban is another of the distinguishing words, meaning fair, so someone with light hair or pale eyes and eyebrows etc. opposite of dubh, dark. The other word looks again like an attempt to capture something in writing that will have been entirely familiar in speech. Gillebride [servant of St Bride] is a Gaelic male name and it looks as though Niall (Neil) Gillebride probably Neil son of Gillebride in a rather truncated sloinneadh or patronymic was intended. Perhaps someone else may have a better suggestion about this one but it is not something I have met before. Hope this helps. Angus

Title: Re: Help with Gaelic, please
Post by: jacquih66 on Saturday 24 April 10 03:55 BST (UK)

Thanks, Angus.  That clarifies a few things for me.

Jacqui